Chevy Volt, Game Changer?

The Cash for Clunkers program heats up and people across America are trading in their gas guzzlers for new fuel efficient models. Adding fuel to the fire, General Motors announced yesterday that their electric car, the Chevy Volt, will get 230 miles per gallon during city driving. The car is expected to cost $40,000 and be on the market in November of next year. GM is calling it a "game changer," but is it too late for GM's game? Or could the Volt save GM and save the planet at the same time? We talk to Garry Golden, futurist and energy blogger, about fuel efficiency and the future of cars.

Here's how Chevy is selling its Volt:

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Comments [2]

Garry G

Re: 'Nice idea'It's hard to avoid the transition of electric vehicles and dependence on fossil fuel based electricity generation. There is no 'silver bullet' & EVs are just one of the many energy strategies of the future.

The market problem w/ pluggin in - is that it tries to disrupt the current 'portable chemical fuel' model.

I don't expect utilities will save the day or that 'plug in' cars are the future of electric vehicles. I expect hydrogen (stored either as gas, solid, or h2 rich liquids) will be the preferred model for automakers and energy companies.

And re: price... I agree that $30-40K is a lot of money-- but again, this is a first generation model. Within a decade electric propulsion platforms (based on integration of battery, fuel cells and capacitors) will be cheaper than combustion engines. As they offer more modular and scalable methods of buildings cars (e.g. wheel based motors) enabling great factory utilization for automakers. Best,Garry G

Nice idea, but does it "plug in", if so, how does that help when so much coal is burned at power plants, isn't this shifting the energy source? Or, does the car recharge it's own battery by it's movement, an alternator type of gadget, if so, that's great! But still too expensive.